Egypt and Lebanon Look Forward to More Cooperation

Means to enhance Egyptian-Lebanese economic relations were discussed when the Minister of Investment, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin met top Lebanese officials during a brief visit to Lebanon.

Dr. Mohieldin's meeting with the Lebanese Minister of Finance, Raya al-Hassan covered ways to bolster bilateral trade relations and set up more joint infrastructure projects.

The meeting highlighted the significance of President Mubarak's announcement at the Cairo Investment Forum, that Egypt is contributing to and backing the Arab initiative on financing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), declared during the Arab Economic Summit in Kuwait.

Dr. Mohieldin's meeting with the Lebanese Minister of Industry, Abraham Dedeyan, focused on how to enhance Egypt-Lebanon trade relations and improve the investment climate. The meeting called for the exchange of mutual visits.

Minister Dedeyan was invited to visit Egypt to get acquainted with the activities of the investment, free and industrial zones. Lebanese missions were also welcomed to visit Egypt to closely examine Egypt's experience in streamlining its climate of investment.

Minister Dedeyan invited Egyptian companies to enter the Lebanese market after reviewing the Lebanese map of investment incentives offered to investors.

A speech on the global financial crisis and its repercussions for Arab economies was delivered by Dr. Mohieldin during the 10th Annual Conference of the Arab Society for Economic Research.

The minister explained how the crisis' negative effects in Arab countries varied according to their respective economic structure. He noted that the crisis had limited impact on the Egyptian economy, which grew at 4.7 percent during FY 2008/09 and is expected to exceed 5 percent during the current fiscal year, thanks to the government's financial sector reform program.

Dr. Mohieldin listed the reasons behind the outbreak of the global financial crisis, noting it created a new reality to the world economy. Growth rates worldwide are expected to be lower than the pre-crisis period. This, he added, would be synchronizing with a rise in capital cost.

Dr. Mohieldin firmly believes there is a crisis in economics and in economic analysis methods, which failed to predict and prevent the crisis.

Lebanese investors in Egypt contribute to 865 companies, 40 percent of which were established in the past four years; operating in financial service, tourism and industrial fields.